Gurston Championship Rounds 9-12 July 2026 Review
Gurston Down Championship Rounds 9-12 – 4th and 5th July
WORDS – John Brown
PICTURES – Vince Feeney
Gurston was blessed with summer sunshine and a capacity entry for the Tony Marsh Memorial Weekend at the beginning of July. As well as Rounds 9 – 12 of the Turbo Dynamics Gurston Down Championship and rounds 5 and 6 of the Online Cleaning Technologies Top Ten Challenge there was a wide variety of entries from 8 guest clubs and championships. These included a welcome return from the Paul Matty Lotus Challenge who were last at the hill, we think sometime around 2010-2011.
Gurston Down classes
As the Championship reached its halfway stage the top two scorers crept a little further away from the field though they could hardly have been closer to each other as after the 11th round they were tied on points to the nearest 1/100th at the top of the table.
We had 3 entrants in 4-STD, Standard cars which was won on Saturday by Rob Thomson in his Mazda MX5 with a time of 40.80 which is just 0.11 away from the class record. On Sunday he transferred to the Bristol MC Visconte MX5 class and won that in 40.65, proving that the Standard class record could be his if he comes back again. Lyndon Evans in his Honda Civic was second on Saturday and won the class on Sunday in the absence of Thomson.
As ever the two drivers in Class 4-MX5 entertained us with their various lines through Carousel but this weekend Richard Morton won twice on Saturday and once on Sunday before he ran just a little bit too wide at Carousel to allow Chris Burch to take the honours on that run. His first run on Saturday of 39.08 had been below the class target and overall the two drivers both moved up a couple of places in the Championship to 4th and 5th.
Richard Morton (Mazda MX5)
John Davey was beaten for the first time this season on Sunday in Class 4a – Road Going Series Production up to 1400cc and it wasn’t his regular rival David Nutland who did it but Julian Rinaldi in a Ford Fiesta. Julian had been over a second behind John on Saturday but found all of that time on Sunday to win by just 12/100ths in 39.87 although John’s consistent times, close to his class target, moved him up to 3rd place in the Championship.
John Davey (MG Midget)
The three drivers mentioned above who moved up the overall table all benefited from an uncharacteristic mistake from Russell Davies in Class 4b for Road Going Series Production 1400 to 2000cc when he ran wide in Carousel as brilliantly caught in Vince Feeney’s photo below. That trip on the grass and the consequent slower progress cost Russell about 6 seconds and this was equally reflected in his Championship score for that run.
Russell Davies (Honda Civic Type R)
Of course a driver can drop their 6 worst scores at the end of the season and so that will probably be one of Russell’s. In the end he did not win the class either as on both days non-Championship runner Martin Walters, on his first visit this year in his Abarth 500 Essesse, got below 38 seconds (37.89 and 37.92) to take home the wine glasses.
Martin Walters (Abarth 500 Essesse)
There was a good variety of non-Championship entries on Saturday in Class 4c – Road Going Series Production over 2000cc which was won by Graham Ramsay in his SEAT Cupra (40.96) from Jon Young in his MG ZS and Stephen Lloyd in his Audi A5 Sportline. On Sunday they had all disappeared and the only entrant, Gary Hull in Aaron Perrott’s Aston Martin Vantage, took the solo win on 37.71.
Clive Skipper was again missing from Class 4d – Road-going Specialist Production Cars and with Rob Brodie competing up at the BHC round at Harewood there were no scorers in this class either which was won by Downton Motor Club class record holder Richard Burnett in his Westfield on both days in 34.41 and 33.99. Second was Gary Dawkins in his Lotus Exige who had cured the problem which kept him from competing on the Sunday at our last meeting.
It seemed like a time for the ages when Clive Stangle reset the record for Class 4-4wd Road-going to 32.78 to win the 2025 Championship. On Saturday Dan Young in his Subaru, featured in all its glory in last month’s report, won a 2 car class against Simon Neve in a time of 37.94. Sunday, however, saw the return of Jack Ellis and father Nick in their Subaru. Jack had held the record all through 2025 with a time of 33.23 until Stangle’s assault on it in August and when practice began on Sunday he showed he was out to regain it with times of 32.75 and 32.21. He went even better on his first class run with a 32.12 and followed that up with a 32.40 to win from his father by over 2,3 seconds! In 3rd was the only Championship scorer in the class, Steve Cox in his VW Golf.
Jack Ellis (Subaru Impreza)
Graham Beale missed out last month because he was helping run the meeting and so he was determined to make a mark this time around in Class 6 – Modified Limited Production Marque Sports Cars over 2000 c.c. His Championship target was 33.64 and he not only beat that but on his first run on Saturday he also beat Simon Purcell’s 10 year old class record of 33.19 with a 33.06 in his Ginetta G33. This time also qualified Graham for the Top Ten Challenge run-off on Saturday but he decided not to risk the car for the outside chance of scoring a point.
Graham Beale (Ginetta G33)
Neil Turner was back in his Mini in Class 7 – Modified Series Production cars up to 1400cc and with times of 36.84 (Sat.) and 36.04 (Sun.) he easily held off David Bean in his Mini although David set a season’s best on Saturday.
On to Class 8 – Modified Series Production Cars 1400 – 2000 c.c. and the continuation of Karl Stevens effort to win the Championship. Having already reduced his target on 5 occasions this season it took until the end of Sunday to make his 6th reduction, this time by another 6/100ths to 35.68. For the first time this year he had some serious opposition for the class win from Mike Harriman in his Renault Clio who lost out by just 0.48 (Sat.) and 0.37 (Sun.).
In Class 9-4WD Jim Herbert had been puzzled by a lack of pace back in June and also had a lack of confidence in what the car was doing under him but a watching Clive Stangle identified a problem and for this meeting Jim and the car were back on form with times in the 33 second bracket. A first Saturday run of 33.16 was an improvement on his target by over half a second and was only 4/100ths away from Stephen Moore’s class record. His best on Sunday was 33.19 and he left the meeting in a much happier frame of mind. Once again Rupert Ryall was his only rival, but this month a bit further back as Jim improved.
Having first used slicks on his Westfield Superbusa at the Gurston Masters in May, Adrian Lewis was back out in Class 11 – Modified Special Production cars andwas fast enough on Sunday (33.11) to qualify for the Top Ten Challenge run-off. His only rival, Lloyd Bettinson in his Fisher Fury Phoenix had the misfortune to have a front hub break on his first Saturday run leading to the loss of the wheel but he was back out on Sunday to be just behind Lewis with a 33.82.
Lloyd Bettinson (Fisher Fury Phoenix) chased by a wheel
Just a small turnout in Class 13 – Historically Interesting with regulars Fryth Crosse (Ensign) and Mike Broome (Alexis) joined once again on Saturday by Ian Baxter in his ex-Brian Redman Brabham. It was Baxter who led to begin with on Saturday but an improvement of nearly a second by Fryth saw him take the class win on 35.22. An improvement to 34.62 was then enough on Sunday to beat Mike Broome and overall he now lies 7th in the Championship, just 0.36 behind Stephen Snell, of whom more shortly.
We were down to just one runner in Class 14 for Classic Clubmans with Luke Trotman withdrawing and Charles Jones not entered and so Ben Rolls just had the clock to beat and with 4 runs on or under 34 seconds he eventually, on Sunday afternoon, beat his target by 1/10th sec with a 33.56 to leapfrog Charles Jones in the Championship though both have scored in fewer than the maximum number of rounds.
The other leading runner in the Championship, apart from Karl Stevens is Tim Pitfield in his DJ Firecat in Class 15a – Sports Libre cars up to 1400cc. Like Karl he lowered his class target for the 6th time this season (to 32.50) and after 11 rounds the 2 of them were tied in the lead of the Championship to the nearest 1/100th of a point. Karl then beat his target in Round 12 while Tim was just 5/100ths slower. It is looking likely that the double points scoring rounds will be critical in deciding this championship. Tim qualified for both Top Ten Challenge run-offs but chose not to run in the second one as his car was overheating.
Paul Davies and Peter Steel in their Radicals comprised Class 15b for Sports Libre between 1400 and 2000cc. As ever the two were very close but it was Steel who generally held the upper hand winning three out of the 4 runs, but their best times across the weekend were just 5/100ths apart in favour of Steel (31.83).
The only entrant in Class 16 – Sports Libre over 2000cc over the weekend was Chris Dunscombe in his spectacular Peugeot T16 bodied Mitsubishi Lancer on Sunday who had a best time of 36.90.
Chris Dunscombe (Mitsubishi Lancer / Peugeot T16) – photo by John Brown
Last month in the class for Racing Cars up to 600cc, it was Calum Kemp who won on Saturday and Euan Kemp who won on Sunday and this month it was exactly same scenario with Calum (season’s best 36.08 on Saturday) being slightly quicker overall than Euan (36.13 on Sunday). Reg Allen continued to chase the brothers on Sunday finishing just 0.78 behind Calum. In the Championship Euan currently leads Calum by just over a point, both having scored in 9 rounds.
David Cuff was again a non-starter in Racing Cars 600-1100cc but he and daughter Lucy are expected to be sharing the car next month. The battle at the front between the top 3 of Mark Crookall, Ben Bonfield and Tom Williams (back in a repaired car) was ever changing and the following is a summary of their times, starting with the best: 30.66 (Mark), 30.79 (Ben), 30.86 (Mark), 30.91 (Tom), 30.97 (Ben), 31.01 (Tom), 31.02 (Tom), 31.12 (Mark – twice), 31.19 (Tom), 31.20 (Ben) and 31.22 (Ben). What this translated into was a win for Mark on both days with Tom second on Saturday and Ben on Sunday and all 3 qualified well up for the run – offs.
Stephen Snell was joined this month in the Racing Cars 1100 to 1600 cc class by 2010 and 2011 Top Ten Challenge winner, Andrew Forsyth, in his OMS, and it was he who won the class with 30.40 (Sat.) and 30.26 (Sun.). Stephen meanwhile continues to improve and on Saturday he reduced his class target by 1/10th second to 31.76 but on Sunday morning he went even quicker and brought that down to a new PB of 31.19 (He had previously done a 31.64 in a run-off in June). This meant that he has now jumped up to 6th in the Championship.
In the 1601 to 2000cc (normally aspirated) Racing Car class our two championship regulars of Nigel Pitt in his Dallara and Steve Holland in his Force were joined for the weekend by Simon Carre from Guernsey who was getting in some seat time in his Dallara before the BHC visits the Channel Islands next week, and on Saturday by Andrew Dinner in his ex-Tom New (among others) Pilbeam MP62/82/88.
Simon Carre (Dallara F302)
Nigel Pitt was once again going better than ever in the ex-Tim Elmer Dallara getting a PB on Sunday afternoon with 29.56 which he then proceeded to lower to 29.25 in the run-off. One of the story lines of the season so far has been Steve Holland’s pursuit of the class record set by Trevor Willis back in May 2005 of 28.08 when the class was also open to forced induction cars. Trevor had also recorded a 28.07 in the run-off at the September BHC meeting that year, though of course that did not count as a class record.
For many years after that the class was dominated by forced induction cars until in 2016 the two engine types were separated so that normally aspirated cars would be attracted back to the hills. The revolution began slowly and it is only in the last few years that cars to challenge Trevor’s record have come to the fore, principally Johnathen Varley in the GWR Predator who back in May 2025 recorded a class winning time of 28.11 – close but not quite. Steve Holland brought his new Force TA in 2025 and by the end of the season he had a PB of 28.63, although he also missed both the July and the early August weekends. In 2026 he has been getting quicker and quicker and as he left here in June he was down to a PB of 28.24.
Steve Holland (Force TA)
As well as the usual Championship points scoring priorities this last weekend there was also the matter of the Tony Marsh Memorial Trophy which is awarded to the registered championship contender who breaks by the most or comes closest to their class record on one of the 4 class runs and this prestigious award was something else for Steve to aim at. His times on Saturday were a bit away at 28.82 and 28.65 but on Sunday morning it was a 28.36. Sunday afternoon and it all came together and a super-smooth passage through Carousel helped him to cross the line in 27.99 for a new class record.
Unfortunately the 0.09 improvement was not quite enough to win the Tony Marsh Trophy as Graham Beale’s time in his Ginetta of 33.06 had taken 0.13 off Simon Purcell’s record to win the cup.
The 1601 to 2000cc (forced induction) Racing Car class was once again just Jason Robinson in his Empire Wraith but after a good weekend in June when he got down to a PB of 30.17 the car decided it did not want to play this weekend and after 2 troublesome practice runs and one timed run of 40.30 on Saturday, and two more troubled runs on Sunday morning he packed up.
So after 12 rounds of the Championship the top 6 points scorers are Karl Stevens (239.82), Tim Pitfield (239.71), John Davey (231.60), Richard Morton (230.92), Chris Burch (226.26) and Stephen Snell (225.38).
TOP TEN Run-offs
The top 4 runners in the run off each day were identical with Steve Holland winning from Nigel Pitt, Mark Crookall and Tom Williams. Stephen Snell picked up 5th on Saturday when Ben Bonfield’s Jedi jumped out of gear on his run, but Ben was back to 5th on Sunday with Stephen 6th. Tim Pitfield had been 6th on Saturday but did not run on Sunday.
Peter Steel did not run on Saturday and came 7th on Sunday ahead of Paul Davies who had picked up the vacant 7th spot on Saturday. Tony Bonfield was 8th on Saturday but dropped to 10th on Sunday while Ben Bonfield’s problem on Saturday meant he finished in 9th, a spot taken by Dylan Ferrett on Sunday. Dylan finished in 10th on Saturday with what is possibly the slowest time ever for a run – off – 169.97. His car cut out on the run after Hollow and while he came to a halt for a bit he received no outside assistance. He eventually got the car started again and cruised slowly up to the top of the hill. With Steel and Graham Beale not starting he picked up the final point. Adrian Lewis was the final runner on Sunday and finished in 11th position.
VISITING CLASSES
MGCC Speed Championship
A wide variety of MGs ranging from a pre war PA and TC (both supercharged) through an MGA and various Midgets to modern day MGF and TF variants was won by the only Austin Healey in the class – Simon Jones in his Sprite who was quickest on all runs.
National Historic Speed Championship
The National Historic Speed Club was founded in 2023 by Steve Akers to give owners of historic vehicles an outlet where they would compete against similar age (pre 1977) cars. Steve was competing in his Lotus Elan and came 3rd on Saturday and 2nd on Sunday but the winner on both days was recent recruit Andrew Webber in his Lotus 47D62R who has transferred over from the HSA Speed Championship as they are no longer hosting Classic car classes. He was quickest on 3 of the 4 runs and his final time of 38.25 was a new class record. Kevin Strange in his Morgan was quickest on the first run. An interesting variety of 9 cars including a Hillman Imp, a Volvo Amazon and a Triumph Dolomite Sprint. Unfortunately Peter Joy’s Lotus Elite which had been fastest in practice had terminal problems on its first timed run.
Andrew Webber (Lotus 47D62R)
Gilbern Owners Club
The Gilberns ( 2 cars and 3 drivers) only ran on Saturday but this class also produced a class record with Alex Ward in his Invader taking nearly 2 seconds off the record with a 61.55. Only Ian Linnard in his Invader took a second run.
Alex Ward (Gilbern Invader)
Bristol MC Visconte MX5 Challenge
Four cars and 5 drivers in this class on Sunday only and yet another class record was set by Rob Thomson at 40.65 although he had been behind James Hurford on the first run.
Rob Thomson (Mazda MX5)
Downton Motor Club Speed Championship
The Downton club returned for the third time this season with a good turn out of 10 cars on Saturday and 12 on Sunday. Dominic Bishop’s Radical was fastest on both days though he had lagged behind Mark Everett’s TVR Griffith on Saturday’s first run. A possible engine issue curtailed Mark’s running on Sunday but the one run he took all day was enough to get him into third behind the returning Derek Kessell’s Maguire Mini spaceframe who was not present on Saturday. Zak Cobb was again the quickest of the BMW Mini Coopers and it was good to see Peter Hannam out on Sunday in his Cooper T65, taking 6th in a tightly packed field where less than 4/10ths second separated 4th from 8th.
Midland Speed Championship
Three Westfields, an Aston Martin and a Mini Clubman provided variety in this class with the run wins shared between Graham Woodcock’s Westfield (2 on Saturday), Aaron Perrotts’ Aston and Craig Spooner’s Westfield (by 1/100th) on Sunday with the overall class win on Sunday going to Perrott.
Caterham and Lotus 7 Club Championship
A variety of Caterham 7 variants across 4 classes had their annual outing to Gurston Down with class wins on both days going to Ivan Pullen (Class 1), Robert Jacobs (3/100ths away from his own class record) (Class 2) and Jeremy Davies (Class 4).
In Class 3 the winner on Saturday was Dom Williams but then on Sunday morning he ran wide at Carousel and impacted the barrier outside the commentary box (see Vince Feeney picture below). Although he carried on to the top of the hill the car came back on the flat bed and was not seen again. In his absence the class win on Sunday went to Alan Bowler, whose co-driver, Regin Jensen, had come over from Demark to compete.
Dom Williams (Caterham 7) on his way to join the commentator
Paul Matty Lotus Challenge
After an absence of at least 15 years a large entry of 26 Lotus runners was entered for the latest round of their challenge. Unfortunately Paul Matty and wife June were unable to be present as Paul had had a heart operation the previous Tuesday but he kept in touch from home to work out the handicap prizes!
A few other non-starters reduced the final runners to 19 each day, with 9 of those being racing cars (8 single-seaters and one sports car). Quickest throughout was Tony Wallen in his Lotus 69 F3 with an 1800 BDG engine who on Saturday reduced the class record from 34.73 to 34.38 before then going even better with a 33.48 on Sunday. The previous record had been set back in 2005 by Tony Shute driving a Lotus Expose. David Hampton in his Lotus 69 F2 / Atlantic also with a BDG engine was second both days while into 3rd came Iain Stallard with the quickest of the Lotus Elans.
Tony Wallen (Lotus 69F3)
Notable among the drivers was Richard (Dick) Swindall in his Lotus Elan who is 91 years old and had driven the car down from Glasgow via his daughter’s in Hertfordshire.
Richard Swindall (Lotus Elan)
For those with an interest in all things Lotus there were 3 Elans, 3 Elises, I Exige and one 23, one 35, one 51c FF (modified), one 61 FF (modified) and four 69s of various specifications.
A welcome addition to the paddock at Gurston and we hope to see them again in the future (and not 15 years in the future!).
I am not sure when we last had a meeting with so many class records being broken, 7 with 2 of them being more than 20 years old.
Performance and Conditions Adjusted Championship
Introducing a new “shadow championship” to Gurston Down Speed Hillclimb
All year we have been running a new test competition to trial something new and see if helps with a few challenges we see
- people not incentivised to compete on days of non-perfect conditions (time based points)
- not all cars can be competitive, so creates a barrier to entry for newcomers
- to make more cars competitive we introduce more classes
- too many classes means too few cars per class, an average of less than 5 cars per class
The aim is
“Allow anyone to fairly compete & be competitive in essentially any vehicle and be able to compete on any day with whatever conditions”
and secondarily to “stem the proliferation of classes”
Goal: Ultimately appeal to more people in bigger variety of cars and stem the proliferation of classes and reward performance on bad weather/track days
the championship works through handicapping. Lots of competitive sports use handicapping to level the field of play, some are based on equipment (sailing) some are based on ability (golf). But there are lots of other handicapped competitions
Drag racing, Dial-In in Bracket Racing; declare a time for a run you will not beat
Cycling; usually reduced mileage
and Speedway, Chess, Go, Sailing, Gliding, Tennis, Basketball, all have handicapping systems
Lots of different approaches were considered and simulated. But this year the new PaCAC championship is managing a target time for every competitor and reducing it when you beat it. It also adjusts it for each run by considering the times of all the competitors relative to their target times. Points are determined relative to this adjusted target time. Points are accrued over the whole season.
More information can be found on the competitions page
We hope this will provide a new competition that adds a new element and shows how we may equalise without formal classes and refine the concept in future seasons.
Gurston Championship Rounds 5-8 June 2026 Review
WORDS – John Brown
PICTURES – Vince Feeney
The second weekend of Gurston Championship action took place under sunny skies with a cooling breeze which made conditions much more comfortable than the Bank Holiday weekend.
A good turnout of Championship contenders saw a number of targets being beaten in the various classes with 2 drivers in particular strengthening their positions in the standings (of which more later).
Guest Clubs and classes.
There was just one class record broken across all the classes and that came in the first one to hit the hill, the Tunbridge Wells Motor Club Championship in which Simon Neill made short work of breaking the existing record set by Davie Man in an Alfa Romeo 4c back in 2021 at 36.40 secs. Simon in his MK Indy Hayabusa Turbo, running on slicks for the first time, recorded times of 35.68, 35.27, 34.22 and 34.45 over the two days to smash the record. Left behind by some 7 seconds were Richard Darnell in his MG TF and the other 2 runners.
Simon Neill (MK Indy Hayabusa Turbo)
In the Downton Motor Club Championship the two black Mini Cooper S of Steve Jarrett and Zak Cobb were the pacesetters with Zak putting in the best time on his first run on Saturday with a 37.70 to win with Steve getting down to 38.48 and the spectacular Kieran Stevens in his, also black, Vauxhall Corsa who dipped into the 39 second bracket on Sunday to finish 3rd on 39.42.
The other guests who were with us for the whole weekend were the 21 Porsches in the Porsche Club GB Championship sponsored by Ninemeister. The class was led throughout by David Hilton in his 996 who had a best time of 35.45, but getting ever closer all weekend was Justin Dooling in his 992 GT3 who eventually fell short by just 0.13 secs. There were some very close battles among the Porsches with 6th to 9th on Saturday being separated by just 5/100ths and 3rd to 5th on Sunday by just 2/100ths. The class also saw the only damaging off of the weekend when Jake Cartwright contacted the Recticel outside the commentary box on Saturday. Fortunately he was sideways into the barrier which did its job well and the car was back out competing on Sunday.
David Hilton (Porsche 996)
On Saturday the Formula 3 cars of the 500 Owners Association took us back 70 years to the days of Stirling Moss, Les Leston and David Boshier-Jones and it was former Formula 1 driver, Richard Robarts who once again took victory in his Cooper with a time of 41.79 beating the Mackintosh family into 2nd and 3rd places in their shared Cooper (Finlay on 42.38 and Max on 42.58).
Richard Robarts (Cooper MkXI)
Finally in the guest classes a small band of Morgans in their Techniques Speed Championship saw a win for Clive Hall in his 4/4 in a time of 40.13 with Alan Foster, who had got in some extra practice on Saturday in the appropriate Gurston class, in second on 42.78. The class record for the Morgans is 34.49 which was set way back in 1995 by Mike Hall, the father of current British Hillclimb Championship pacesetter, Will Hall.
Gurston Down Championship classes
A number of the classes were lacking some of the usual suspects but we did also welcome back an old favourite.
The classes for 4-STD, Standard cars (won by the sole entrant Tom Cuff in his Twingo on Saturday in 46.45 and on Sunday in a PB of 46.26), 4c – Road Going Series Production over 2000cc (won on Saturday by Dimitris Vaxevanakis in a Porsche Boxster (39.54) and by sole entrant Paul Wheatley (Mini Cooper S) in 43.92 on Sunday), 16a – Rally Cars (Steven Hall in a Talbot Sunbeam in 41.05 on Saturday and Brian Farminer in a Ford Fiesta Rally5 WRC in 42.51 on Sunday) and 22 – Racing Cars over 2000cc, won on both days by sole entrant Terry Graves in his Gould GR55DJ in 29.46 (Sat.) and 29.80 (Sun.) were all free of Championship entrants.
The battle for honours in Class 4-MX5 swung back and forth between the two drivers sharing the ex – Mark Crookall Championship winning Mazda. On Saturday it was Chris Burch that had the upper hand with his 39.62 beating Richard Morton’s 40.43 but on Sunday it was Richard’s turn as both drivers got below 40 seconds with Richard’s 39.40 beating Chris’ 39.80. At the end of the weekend Richard was 6th in the Championship with Chris in 7th.
John Davey in his MG Midget continues to hold the upper hand in Class 4a – Road Going Series Production up to 1400cc and he was below 40 seconds on 3 of his 4 runs, his best of 39.59 being just 2/10ths away from the class target which is also his PB. At the end of the weekend he was 5th in the standings just 0.41 ahead of Richard Morton. David Nutland was second to John on both days though just 0.3 secs ahead of the shared Fiesta of Steve Holley and Andrew Thorp on Sunday.
Just 0.21 points above John Davey in 4th place in the Championship currently is the winner of the next class – Class 4b for Road Going Series Production 1400 to 2000cc – Russell Davies in his Honda Civic. It was the usual ding-dong between Russell and Daniel Friel in his similar Civic on Saturday with Daniel leading on the first run on 38.08 only for Russell to go ahead on the second run with a 38.02. With Daniel not entered on Sunday it was no problem for Russell to win the class on 38.15.
Regular class front-runner Clive Skipper was missing from Class 4d – Road-going Specialist Production Cars and this opened to door for the ever-improving Rob Brodie to win with bests of 36.40 (Sat.) and 36.01 (Sun.).
The fastest time in the 4-4wd Road-going class on Saturday went to Dan Stevens in his Subaru Impreza with 34.64 on his first run but unfortunately he was not able to continue for the rest of the weekend and this meant that championship entrant Steve Cox in his VW Golf R won on 35.37 from another Impreza, this one in Subaru blue and yellow in the hands of Dan Young.
Dan Young (Subaru Impreza)
With Graham Beale in his Ginetta a non-entrant this weekend, as he was helping out in the paddock office, the only times in Class 6 – Modified Limited Production Marque Sports Cars over 2000 c.c were set by Paul Slade on the Saturday who opened his Championship account with 40.84 and 41.51.
Neil Turner’s Mini is still not ready to compete in Class 7 – Modified Series Production cars up to 1400cc and although David Bean in his Mini set a season’s best of 42.91 on his first Saturday run to lead Steve Luscombe’s MG Midget it was Steve who came through to win with 42.43 (Sat.) and 42.09 (Sun.).
On to Class 8 – Modified Series Production Cars 1400 – 2000 c.c. and here we find the current Championship leader in Karl Stevens in his Ford Escort Mk2. At the start of the season the target for this class was 36.73 secs which had been set by Luke Chard-Maple in his Clio in 2025. We had anticipated a good competition between Luke and Karl this year but since he went home after practice on the first day of the season we have not seen Luke, and Karl has proceeded to steadily rack up points by setting 5 new targets in the first 8 rounds – 36.49 in Round 3, 36.29 in Round 4, 36.09 in Round 5, 36.03 in Round 6 and finally on Sunday 35.74 in Round 8! What happened in Round 7 – just a 36.05! Currently he is averaging 20.07 points per round, the only driver averaging over 20.
Karl Stevens (Ford Escort Mk2)
In Class 9-4WD Jim Herbert continues to steadily add points to his total but his times have slipped form a 33.67 in the first round back at the start of May, which set a new target, to a best of just 34.88 (Sat.) and 35.33 (Sun.) but I am sure he will find that pace again in the rounds to come. His only rival this weekend, Rupert Ryall in his Subaru, managed a best of 35.92.
Two of the regulars in Class 13 – Historically Interesting were missing this weekend: Simon Taylor and his HWM Stovebolt Special have been invited to California for the rest of the summer and so we will not see that iconic car again this year – the Stovebolt Special was originally a Formula 2 HWM running a 2-litre Alta engine back in the early 1950s before it went to the USA where it was transformed into its current configuration to star in a movie, and it has a much higher profile over there than it does in the UK. Also missing was Mike Broome in his Alexis and so Fyrth Crosse was able to win the class on both days (34.42 and 35.20) though pressed closely by Ian Baxter in his ex-Brian Redman Brabham BT16 on Saturday (35.98). Fyrth currently holds 8th position in the Championship.
Ian Baxter (Brabham BT16)
Class 14 for Classic Clubmans cars saw the return to action of Ben Rolls in his Mallock and he set out his stall with a target beating 33.66 on his first run but that was as good as it got for him though he twice more got below 34secs on Sunday. As he has only scored in 5 rounds so far his true position in the standings will not appear until others start to drop scores so he can still have a role to play in the final positions. His class rival, Charles Jones, has not yet managed to get below 34secs but his consistent scoring has him at 3rd in the standings over 2 points ahead of Russell Davies.
Currently second is 2021 Gurston champion and 2026 Gurston Masters winner (twice), Tim Pitfield in his DJ Firecat from Class 15a – Sports Libre cars up to 1400cc. Like Karl Stevens he has also been resetting the class target on a regular basis, including on 3 of the 4 runs this weekend. From a pre-season target of 33.63 he has moved it on to 33.49 (Round 1), 33.38 (Round 4), 33.34 (Round 5), 32.86 (Round 6) and 32.57 (Round 7) just missing out in Round 8 when he only managed 32.62. Not surprisingly he is close behind Karl Stevens in the standings with just 0.63 points separating them.
With Peter Steel in his Radical and Mike Lee in his Force joining Paul Davies in his Radical in Class 15b for Sports Libre between 1400 and 2000cc and in the Championship this weekend, we now have three very quick drivers pushing each other to better times and all 3 qualified for both run-offs. On Saturday Paul Davies led after the first run (32.35) but was overtaken by both Steel (31.74) and Lee (31.83). On Sunday Lee led in the first run with 31.85 from Davies and Steel but a loss of power on the second run allowed Steel to slip ahead on 31.58 and Davies came close on 31.87.
It was good to see the Mannic-Beattie back out in the Championship in Class 16 – Sports Libre over 2000cc, Nic qualifying for both run-offs with a time of 29.27 on Saturday and 28.95 on Sunday. Unfortunately a problem on his second run on Sunday meant that he could not participate in the run-off that day.
In the class for Racing Cars up to 600cc, the battle between the Kemp brothers went the way of Calum on Saturday by just 6/100ths of a second but a spin just after Hollow on his first run on Sunday may have made him a bit cautious on his second run and Ewan was able to come through and win with their fastest time of the weekend on 36.12.
The field for the Racing Cars 600-1100cc class was boosted by the return not only of Mike and Tom Williams in their Storm but also of Adam Steele in the Martlet AS1 which he reckoned had not been out for 10 years at least before the Test Day in April. We also had seasonal first appearances from Christopher Crocker and Charlie and Roger Biggs in their Jedis, but unfortunately David Cuff was a non starter, the engine in his Empire having broken a big end at the last meeting.
Adam Steel (Martlet AS1)
On Saturday, Ben Bonfield feeling much better than 3 weeks previously led the way with two sub-31 second runs but he was just 1/10th second ahead of Adam Steel, showing that the long hiatus had not affected his or the car’s ability. Mark Crookall and Tom Williams followed close behind and all 4 qualified for the run – off.
Unfortunately on Sunday we lost Adam Steel who cracked the sump on the Martlet in Saturday’s run-off and the Williams’ who discovered a crack in the chassis during practice. Mark Crookall led the way on the first run with a 30.83 which equalled Ben Bonfield’s winning time on Saturday and he held on in spite of a slower second run as Ben came to within 3/100ths of that time. In the absence of Steel and Williams, Tony Bonfield finished 3rd and qualified for the run off with Dylan Ferrett in 4th and just missing out for the second day in a row.
Stephen Snell was once again the sole runner in the Racing Cars 1100 to 1600 cc class and he shaved a couple of hundredths off his target twice on Sunday to leave it at 31.86 compared to 31.95 at the start of the weekend.
In the 1601 to 2000cc (normally aspirated) Racing Car class we had our two championship regulars of Nigel Pitt in his Dallara and Steve Holland in his Force. At the second round of the Gurston Masters back at the end of May Steve had suffered a chain breakage on his last run but fortunately there was no major damage and he was back out determined to get below his PB of 28.63 set at this meeting last year. It didn’t happen on Saturday with his best just being 28.79 but after his mistake in Saturday’s run-off (see below) he equalled his PB on his first run and then got his wish with a 28.24 on the second run.
Meanwhile Nigel Pitt was also going better than ever in the ex-Tim Elmer Dallara getting below 30 seconds on 3 runs out of 4 and finally leaving with a PB of 29.81 with a run-off still to come.
Steve Holland (Force TA)
The 1601 to 2000cc (forced induction) Racing Car class was just Jason Robinson in his Empire Wraith and he was another one on a PB mission which he achieved in the first run on Saturday with a 30.17.
Jason Robinson (Empire Wraith)
So after 8 rounds of the Championship the top 6 points scorers are Karl Stevens (160.58), Tim Pitfield (159.95), Charles Jones (156.67), Russell Davies (154.24), John Davey (154.03) and Richard Morton (153.62)
TOP TEN Run-offs
Compared to the May meeting there were half a dozen drivers looking to score their first points of the year. Paul Davies had scored a 3rd and a 5th in May but in spite of improving his times it was only enough for 11th and 8th this weekend. On Sunday that 11th place was taken by Tim Pitfield while on both days it was Peter Steel in 9th and Mike Lee in 10th. With Adam Steel and Tom Williams finishing in 4th and 6th on Saturday but not starting on Sunday Stephen Snell and Mark Crookall both moved up a couple of spots between Saturday and Sunday with Stephen setting a new PB of 31.64 a time almost matched by Tony Bonfield who had missed out on Saturday but now set a PB of 31.67 for 7th on Sunday. Son Ben also set a PB on Sunday at 30.60 in finishing 4th. And that left the top 3 finishers and the only constant here was that on each day one of the top 4 qualifiers failed to finish! Nigel Pitt was 3rd on Saturday and Jason Robinson was second with Nic Mann leading the way, but what of Steve Holland?
In one of those scenarios which will hopefully never happen again Steve had his first start aborted and was pushed back for a restart and then in one of those ‘what did I just do’ moments he went off the line as the marshal pointed to the lights as they always do to remind drivers where to look, but this time the light was still on red and so he had no time recorded!
On Sunday it was Nic Mann’s time to fail to appear for the run-off. As mentioned above the Mannic was not happy on the second class run and so it was put away on its trailer. Nigel Pitt and Jason Robinson swapped places in 2nd and 3rd with Nigel setting another PB of 29.69 to Jason’s 30.29. Steve Holland then had a clean run to go top of the pile with a 28.39 just 15/100ths away from his FTD and PB.
After 4 rounds of the Top Ten Challenge Steve Holland and Ben Bonfield are joint top on 30 points with Nigel Pitt on 27, Mark Crookall on 22 and Stephen Snell on 20.
British Hillclimb Championship & Gurston Down Masters May 2026
British Championship Weekend – 23rd and 24th May
WORDS – John Brown
PICTURES – Vince Feeney
A very warm Spring Bank Holiday weekend saw the visit of the British Hillclimb Championship and BHC Cup contenders to Gurston Down.
In a change from the previous 5 years there was just one round of each competition on each day, making for a more relaxed programme compared to the 2 rounds each day which had been the norm since 2022.
In addition, in a new initiative, BARC (SW) introduced a new Gurston Masters class with 2 runs and a winner each day, the better of the 2 runs to count.
The Gurston Masters were the first class to run. This was open to all BARC (SW) members who were not participating in the National Championships and prizes were awarded based on a driver’s time against a target time. The initial target times were those currently in use in the Gurston Down Championship and they would be reduced every time a driver broke that target, but these changes were only for the weekend and would not be applied to the next GD Championship round. This class had 2 runs each day with the second acting as a buffer between the end of the BHC class runs and the top 12 run-off and this seemed to work as there was very little dead time before the run-off started.
There were originally 26 entries but by the time the first runs on Saturday took place this was reduced to 23 and on that first run it was Tim Pitfield in the DJ Firecat (33.14) who was the only driver to get below his target (33.38), but close behind and just above their target were Graham Beale in his Ginetta G33 (33.70 against a target of 33.64), Keith Mizen in his Mazda MX5 (38.08 against 37.93) and Steve Holland in his Force TA (28.88 against 28.63).
TIM PITFIELD (DJ FIRECAT)
Pitfield also beat his new target of 33.14 on the second run with a 32.99, to become the first winner of the Gurston Masters while Keith Mizen moved up to second with a sub-target time of 37.91 leaving Graham Beale and Steve Holland, who both failed to improve, in 3rd and 4th.
On to the Sunday and we were down to 20 starters. Tim Pitfield, as the winner on Saturday, was given a penalty of 0.25 secs to overcome if he wanted to win again on Sunday. On his first run he recorded an unpenalized time of 32.53, which became 32.78 with the penalty (against a target of 32.99) and yet he was still the top scorer. Graham Beale also got below his target this time with 33.49 against a target of 33.64 while Keith Holland (28.70against 28.63) and Keith Mizen (38.24 against 37.91) completed the top 4 again.
Graham Beale was a non-starter in the second run and Steve Holland came to a halt on the exit of Hollow but with neither Tim Pitfield nor Keith Mizen improving the top 4 stayed as they were and Tim Pitfield won the Gurston Masters on the Sunday too!
BHC Classes
In Class A (i) it was the Lotus Exige of Michael Thomson who came out on top both days ahead of class record holder Jon Langmead in his Lotus Elise. Readers of Facebook will have seen that Jon’s Elise 135, which he had used for a number of years, had been stolen over the winter and the car he is currently using is a replacement which he has not yet developed as much as the old car.
In Class A (ii) it was 4 Porsches against Tim Elmer’s Alpine A110 and it was Richard Snow in his Cayman who won on both days to maintain his perfect record of 6 wins at the top of the BHC Cup leaderboard. Ex single-seater driver, Elmer, came second just ahead of Tony Adams’ Cayman.
Rodney Eyles was originally entered in A (ii) in his Alfa Romeo 4c but a change of car to his 4wd Porsche 911 put him Class A (iii), where he had just the Toyota Yaris GR of Anthony Hawkins as distant opposition, but Eyles pushed hard enough to set a new class record of 33.58, nearly a second ahead of Izzy Lawrence’s old mark.
RODNEY EYLES (PORSCHE 911)
Richard Price in his Caterham 7 remains unbeaten in Class B for Road-going Special Production Cars in the BHC Cup this season as he defeated the 2 Fisher Furys of Rob Brodie and Jonny Toon. For Brodie his Sunday run was a personal best as he got below 36 seconds for the first time in competition with a 35.83.
In Class C (i) the wins were split between Eric Morrey in his turbocharged Hillman Imp and Paul Talbot in his Mini 1275GT which he is campaigning for the first time this year after a 6 year build. Morrey was quickest overall with a 36.24 (Saturday) against Talbot’s 36.47 (Sunday).
PAUL TALBOT (MINI 1275GT)
There were no entries in Class C (ii) and so on to Class C (iii) where it was 3 drivers in 2 Porsches against Nigel Elliott’s fearsome turbocharged Triumph TR7 V8. Paul Howell’s familiar green and yellow 911 won on both days ahead of the even more familiar Carrera of Jonathan Williamson, sharing the car, as he has done for over 40 years, with Laura Wardle who finished 4th behind the TR7.
In Class C (iv) for the 4wd modified cars it was 3 Subaru Imprezas ganging up against Stephen Moore’s Mitsubishi Evo and as expected it was Steven Darley who won on both days but there was an unexpected result on Sunday when Geoff Chalk in his Impreza moved ahead of the Mitsubishi into second place on the day with a personal best of 34.38, though still behind Moore’s Saturday time of 34.32.
There was just one entrant in Class D, Robert Toon in his Morgan who had been transferred from Road-going into Modified.
The small sports libre class (up to 2000cc), Class F, saw a battle between the 2 supercharged Forces of Alan McDonald (SR4) and Mike Lee (LM001) with the difference between them being just over 1/10th second on both days with Mike Lee on top both times.
Graham Wynn in his sports-racing modified single-seater Force TAS with a 2.5 litre Cosworth KF engine was alone in Class G for Sports Libre cars over 2000cc, though the Gurston Masters had seen the welcome return of Nic Mann in the Mannic – Beattie. For comparison Wynn’s best time was 28.79 against Mann’s 29.54.
GRAHAM WYNN (FORCE TAS)
A smaller than usual Class I entry for single seaters up to 1100cc was bolstered by the transfer of Debbie and Richard Summers from Class L as they were now driving the DJ Firehawk, but although Debbie has won this class here in the past it was the Hamer brothers, in their OMS – BMW, and Tom Weaver in his Empire – Suzuki who were the top 3 this year. Will Hamer was fastest on both days but Ben who was second on Saturday was pipped into 3rd by Weaver on Sunday to the tune of 1/100th second.
WILL HAMER (OMS 28)
The class record for the pre-94 Formula Ford class (Class J (i)) had stood since the FF Festival event in 2018 at 35.81 secs but Sam Wilson in his Jamun M90 broke that on Saturday with a 35.72 before going even quicker with a 35.67 on Sunday. The competition inspired Stuart Lugger to go below 36 secs for the first time with a 35.94 on Sunday while Andrew Mathis also recorded a personal best with a 36.54 to complete the top 3 overall. Also notable on Sunday was a PB for Rebecca Crocombe on 37.08 and also for her co-driver Laurence Marks on 38.04.
SAM WILSON (JAMUN M90)
The top 3 in Class J (ii) for single seaters 1100-1600, all in Empire Evo 3s, all qualified for the first run- off with Andy Greenen leading the way on 28.27 ahead of Jason Tunnicliffe in his 1-litre turbocharged version on 28.57 and Adam G on 28.86. Tunnicliffe improved on Sunday to take the class on 28.06 ahead of Andy and although Adam improved on his Saturday time he was squeezed out of the run-off by an improving Andy Bougourd (see below).
JASON TUNNICLIFFE (EMPIRE EVO3)
Class K (i) for up to 2-litre normally aspirated single seaters has been dominated for the past couple of years by Johnathen Varley in his Predator and so it was a surprise to see him beaten on both days (by just 2/100ths on Saturday) by Andy Bougourd in his Force PT who with a 28.35 run qualified for the run-off on Sunday. Aaron Colbourne led the rest of a 12 car class with his first sub 30 second run at Gurston on 29.83.
The forced induction 2-litre single seaters in Class K (ii) saw the first appearance at Gurston of Australian drivers, Dean Tighe and Alan Foley in their Star Wars decorated Empire Wraith but it was class pace setters Paul Haimes (Gould GR59) and Alex Coles (Force TA) who dominated the class and qualified well up for the 2 run-offs, Haimes winning on both days and taking the class with a 26.56 run from Saturday. Tighe finished 3rd on Saturday but then on Sunday he had a major accident after the finish line which led to a long delay but fortunately after a trip to the hospital he returned to the hill at the end of the day to be able to watch the run-off.
PAUL HAIMES (GOULD GR59)
It was the big 3 of Matthew Ryder, Will Hall and Wallace Menzies in their V8 engined Gould GR59s who ruled the roost in Class L all weekend, with Ryder taking the win from Menzies and Hall on Saturday and from Hall (by just 2/100ths) and Menzies on Sunday. They were followed on both days by Dave Uren, Trevor Willis, Harry Pick and Alex Summers while Nicola Menzies came through on Sunday to finish 8th overall but failing to qualify for the run-off. An interesting entry in this class was David and Sean Gould who were entered in the very first purpose – built Gould, the 84G which Chris Cramer took to the British Hillclimb title in 1985. Sean’s best time was 29.81 on Sunday which is not far off the car’s best run-off time in period of 29.21 set by David in 1987.
Finally in Class N Joe Mackrell (Saturday) and Robin Johnson (Sunday) shared the wins in their Tiga SF87 with Johnson (37.23) just pipping Mackrell (37.46) to win overall.
BHC Run-Offs
Matthew Ryder closed the gap at the top of the British Hillclimb Championship to Will Hall to 4 points with 2 wins to Hall’s 2 second places. In fact the top 5 was the same for both rounds with Wallace Menzies in 3rd, Paul Haimes in 4th and Alex Coles in 5th.
MATT RYDER (GOULD GR59)
Behind the top 3 in 4th position Paul Haimes had his best performance of the season, setting a personal best (26.50) in the first run off remarking that the new tyres from Nova really seemed to suit his car, though also remarking that his previous ones were about 3 years old. Alex Coles similarly set a personal best of 26.75 in the first run off to take 5th ahead of Dave Uren.
Uren than had a troubled run second time around when he missed a gear off the line, and in trying to make up time he braked too late for Carousel and suffered a trip across the outside kerb in the middle of the corner and then had his 2 left wheels on the grass at the top, slipping down to 9th in the run-off and also falling behind Coles in the Championship table as a result.
With Uren dropping down in the second run, Trevor Willis and Ales Summers moved up one position to 6th and 7th respectively. Alex, running the P4t as the P8t is not fully rebuilt yet, was unhappy on Saturday with minor niggles but was much happier on Sunday evening.
Harry Pick collected good points with 9th on Saturday and 8th on Sunday. Running a bigger wing than last year has improved the aerodynamics and on Sunday he was below 28 seconds with a 27.74 in the run off.
The minor placings were shared between Jason Tunnicliffe (11th and 10th) and Andy Greenen (10th and 11th). There was only change of driver between the two run-offs with Adam Greenen being replaced in 12th place by Andy Bougourd in the second one
Two notable absentees from the meeting were David Warburton who was in Tokyo and Jack Cottril who only managed one practice run on Saturday as he was having troubles with the new wiring loom which has replaced one burnt earlier in the season.
British Hillclimb’s review of the Gurston Round is available here
Gurston Championship Rounds 1-4 May 2026 Review
Gurston Down 2ndand 3rdMay 2026 by John Brown
CARS
The 2026 season at Gurston Down began on 2nd and 3rd May with the first 4 rounds of the Turbo Dynamics Gurston Down Championship and the first two rounds of the Online Cleaning Technologies Top Ten Challenge.
Apart from a rainy spell from mid afternoon through to the close of play on the Saturday conditions were dry throughout but it was not a weekend for breaking class records, though several class target times were beaten as will be described later. Neither the reigning champion, Clive Stangle, nor the reigning Top 10 Challenge winner, Terry Graves, was present but we did have a fair number of regular Championship runners together with a few interesting new entrants and cars.
New for this year was Class 14 for Classic Clubmans cars of the type which were very popular on the hills in the 1980s and 90s (the class record was set in 1997) and which are still active in speed events and race circuits around the country. Just 3 runners took up the challenge this time around but as will be seen they soon made their mark.
As in 2025 the best 14 scores from 20 rounds of the Championships will count while double points will be awarded to a driver’s best two runs from Rounds 3,4,19 and 20. In the Top 10 Challenge it is 7 best from 10 and double points to the better of rounds 2 and 10.
The championship is scored against a target set for each class which is based on times set by contenders in the last 2 seasons, or exceptionally from earlier years if no times are available. If a competitor equals their target they get 20 points, if they improve against the target they get 20 points plus the amount of the improvement, and if they fail to meet the target they get 20 minus the amount that they fall short. If a target is broken it is immediately reset for the next round of the Championship so that by the end of a weekend there could have been 4 separate targets set for the one class.
After the motorcycles had had their runs, the invitation classes began the car runs each day – on both days we had runners in the Downton Motor Club Speed Championship and the Midland Speed Championship and they were joined on Sunday by Triumphs in the TR Register Speed Championship.
Last year in the Downton class we saw the class record being reduced to 33.52 by Richard Burnett in his Westfield but the class winner on both days, Mark Everett in his TVR Griffith 500, was a good few seconds away from that with two consistent times of 37.24 (Sat) and 37.21 (Sun). Second on Saturday was Harry Whitehead in his turbocharged Mazda MX5 from Zak Cobb in his BMW Mini Cooper S but the positions were reversed on Sunday.
Just 4 runners from the Midland Speed Championship participated and it was Matt Bramall in the Caterham Super 7, shared with brother Chris, who won on both days (36.71 and 36.11) followed by Aaron Perrott in his supercharged Aston Martin Vantage.
Although there were 16 entries for the TR Register class these were reduced by non-arrivals and problems in practice to just 10 fit runners. Winner was Steve Small in his TR7 V8 with a time of 37.34 with Robert McGregor’s potent Dolomite Sprint second on 39.53.
The Gurston classes began with the Standard cars class, still not a Championship class. Thomas Cuff, son of David and brother of Lucy, made his debut in a Renault Twingo but was outpaced by Andrew Till in his Honda Civic Type R who took the class with a 42.02 (Sat) and a 42.10 (Sun), some 5-6 seconds ahead of Thomas. An interesting addition to the class on Sunday was Alison Lock in her Fiat Panda, a driver we have previously seen in the Welsh Championship class driving a somewhat faster Mitsubishi Evo!
Class 4a for Road going Series Production Cars up to 1400 cc saw a renewal of the battle that has raged for a few years now between John Davey (MG Midget) and David Nutland (Mini Cooper S) with only Mark Brown’s Mini as competition on the Saturday. Just 0.1 sec separated John from David on Saturday’s first run but John then found another 4/10ths to win with a 40.45 to David’s 40.95. On the Sunday we additionally welcomed Steve Holley and Andrew Thorp in their familiar Ford Fiesta and the Fishers in their Midget and while John Davey again won the class, this time in 40.02 (as against a target time of 39.39) it was Steve Holley who took second from Nutland after David had a problem on his first run and could not find enough of an improvement on his second run.
There were just 2 drivers in the Class 4-MX5 class with Chris Burch and Richard Morton sharing their familiar ex Mark Crookall car out again for another season in what is looking like an ever more “well-used” car. Chris provided the first excitement of the Saturday with a familiar verge hopping passage of Carousel which enabled Richard (39.61) to take the lead. Neither driver improved on the second run, which surprised Chris who seemed to have been much neater through Carousel this time around! On the Sunday while Richard led on the first run, Chris running in the batch ahead of him on the second run sneaked into the lead before Richard reasserted his authority with a best of the weekend 39.57 to take his second win.
In Class 4b for Road going Series Production Cars between 1401 and 2000 cc we saw the renewal, on the Saturday, of recent battles between Daniel Friel and Russell Davies in their Honda Civic Type Rs. Last year they had not clashed as Russell had only appeared early in the season after a damaging off at Three Sisters but in 2024 their rivalry had led to Russell getting below 38 seconds and it was that time of 37.93 which now set a tough target for him to beat this year. Daniel is not registered in the Championship and only climbed on Saturday but a list of their times shows what we have been missing – Daniel (39.21), Russell (39.26); Daniel then going into the lead with a 38.95 before Russell found a bit more for 38.79 and the win. On Sunday Russell had no real opposition and finished with a 38.84, some 4.85 secs ahead of Philip Pickering in his Mazda.
Class 4c (Road going Series Production Cars over 2000 cc) had 2 different entries each day with none of them Championship registered. Gary Hull sharing Aaron’ Perrott’s Aston Martin Vantage won on Saturday (38.93) from Jon Young’s MG ZS (43.30) while on Sunday it was Graham Ramsay in his Seat Leon Cupra who came through on the second run with 42.04 to topple first run leader Paul Wheatley’s BMW Mini Cooper S (43.30).
Class 4d for Road going Specialist Production Cars saw the familiar sight of Clive Skipper in his Caterham 7 HPC winning on both days (33.97 and 33.44) from Adrian Lewis, back out in his Westfield Superbusa and taking second on 34.70 and 34.16. Those times for Clive qualified him for the Top 12 run-off each day. An unfortunate non-starter was Rob Brodie in his Fisher Fury while Gary Dawkins’ supercharged Lotus Exige provided welcome variety from the numerous Locaterfields.
With Clive and Jenny Stangle missing from Class 4-4WD in their Mitsubishi it was a small field of cars in which Richard Mullis in his Audi TT (39.53) won on the Saturday from Simon Neve’s Mitsubishi Lancer GSR, while both were topped by Steve Cox in his VW Golf R on Sunday with 35.87 from Richard’s 38.16. Richard’s Audi came to a halt just after Hollow on his second run.
With Phil Price now apparently retired and Paul Slade not entered this month it was only Graham Beale in his familiar Ginetta G33, now with a new smoother re-profiled bonnet, who was entered in Class 6 for Marque Sports Cars over 2000 cc. Times of 34.45 (Sat) and 34.04 (Sun) earned him good Championship points against his target of 33.64.
Nail Turner is still waiting for an engine for his familiar modified Mini and was running this meeting in a Jedi single seater and it was just David Bean in his Mini who ran in Class 7 for Modified Production cars up to 1400 cc, recording best times of 43.33 (Sat) and 44.08 (Sun).
Following problems in practice on Saturday, Luke Chard-Maple who had come so close to winning the Championship in 2025, was not seen again and this left just Karl Stevens in his Ford Escort Mk2 in Class 8, Modified Production Cars 1401 to 2000 cc. On his first run on Saturday Karl set a 36.77 against a target of 36.73 and then on Sunday he beat the target with a 36.49 and then beat the reset target with a 36.29 which left him leading the Championship at the end of the weekend on 80.05 points with the possibility that his Sunday scores might also be doubled at the end of the season.
The first sub-target time of the weekend came on Saturday in Class 9-4WD for Modified cars with 4WD when Jim Herbert in his Mitsubishi Evo recorded 33.67 against a target of 33.83. With a 33.70 on the second run he left the hill on Saturday leading the Championship but despite promising to take it easy on Sunday he went off on his second practice run and so failed to record a time / points score. Stephen Moore in his Evo failed to get under 34 seconds on Saturday but was second in class, while on Sunday he took just one run and recorded a 33.80 to take the class in Herbert’s absence.
Robert Pallett in his Ginetta G20 was the only runner in Class 11 for Modified Specialist Production Cars on Saturday and recorded a best time of 38.08, but on Sunday he was joined by and beaten by Paul Meyer in his Westfield Megabus who won with a 35.26.
Two familiar faces competed for the top spot in Class 13 for Historically Interesting cars: Fyrth Crosse and Mike Broome in their respective ex F3 Ensign and Alexis cars. Fyrth won on both days with 35.88 and 35.78. They were joined on Sunday by the interesting Heaton Rudd Monoposto of Gerry Richards. This car was built by Jack Heaton-Rudd in 1969 and competed in circuit racing until 1975. It runs a 1600 cross- flow engine and its bodywork is a combination of Dulon MP15 and March 733 panels.
Class 14 for Classic Clubmans cars had 3 entries but problems for Ben Rolls’ Mallock saw him only take 1 timed run on Saturday before heading home and not re-appearing on Sunday. Victory on both days went to Luke Trotman’s Mallock from Charles Jones’ Mallock and it was in this class that the target time (34.96) suffered the most damage with a series of runs as follows: Round 1 – Jones 34.76, Trotman 34.59 (new target for Round 2 but not beaten); Round 3 – Jones 34.11 (new target for Round 4), Trotman 34.46 (also sub target); Jones 34.75, Trotman 33.95, which becomes the new target for Round 5 in June. At the end of the weekend the 2 of them finished up 2nd and 3rd in the championship standings Jones on 79.72 points and Trotman on 79.52 points.
Tim Pitfield has driven his DJ Firecat in Class 15a for Sports Libre Cars under 1400cc for many years and set the class record of 31.62 as long as 2019. As this was more than 2 years ago it is not considered when setting the target for the class which is the 33.63 that Tim set in 2025, after he had had a miserable time with the car in 2024. On his first run on Saturday he went below the target with 33.49 before then recording times of 33.50 and 33.38 on Sunday to set himself another new target for June. He was the only runner in the class. He lies 4th in the Championship with 79.19 points
The ex-Clive Wooster Radical of Paul Davies was the only runner in Class 15b for Sports Libre Cars between 1401 and 2000 cc. Just as he was starting his 2nd run on Saturday, after recording a 32.60 on his first run, it began to rain and although the clocks recorded a time of 33.50 secs he was judged to have left the track at the finish line and his time was scrubbed. He dragged a lot of grass onto the track and we had the sight of marshals with a leaf-blower clearing it away. On Sunday his best time was 32.42.
Class 16a for Rally Cars had just Steven Hall in his Talbot Sunbeam, a car he purchased 28 years ago for £30. On Saturday after recording a 40.97 he was then red-flagged as a result of the grass blowing required as described above and by the time he got his re0run the rain had intensified and he could not better 48.44. On Sunday his best time was 41.34.
The effect of the rain was clearly seen in Class 18 for Racing Cars up to 600 cc. Calum and Euan Kemp were sharing the driving of their OMS Hornet and Calum was the fortunate one to go in an earlier batch on the second run before the rain when he improved his earlier time from 39.19 to 38.58. By the time brother Euan ran the conditions meant he recorded 47.68 against a first run time of 39.09. Both were beaten by Reg Allen in his Jedi who won the class with a 37.42 from his first run. None of them ran on Sunday.
As is normal for Gurston Down these days the class for Racing Cars between 601 and 1100 cc (Class 19) was well populated although it was missing the familiar face of Steve Loadsman who retired at the end of last season. As mentioned earlier Neil Turner was running in this class in a Jedi while David Cuff was in a familiar car, but one new to him – the ex – James Moore Empire (Evo) 00. Another interesting combination was Mark Bevington and his nephew Charlie Rodwell in the ex Jason Robinson OMS 2000M, a step-up from the Isuzu Bellett saloon they ran last year. On Saturday the only runs to count were the first ones: Mark Crookall and Ben Bonfield in their OMS and Jedi respectively set the pace with Mark winning with 31.00 to Ben’s 31.05. Ben tried his second run on slicks on the wet track but a spin at the bottom of Carousel saw him heading back to the paddock to change his tyres in readiness for the run-off. On Sunday, Mark was struggling with a clutch problem but he managed to drive around it to win the class again with a 30.64 from Ben’s 30.90.
Only one of the remaining classes had more than one entry. While Stephen Snell (Class 20, Racing Cars 1101 to 1600 cc) – 33.11 (Sat) and 32.54 (Sun), Ben Pitfield (Class 20a, Formula Ford Cars) – 38.00 (Sat) and 39.09 (Sun) and Paul Crute (Class 22 Racing Cars over 2000cc) – 32.33 (Sat) and 32.97 (Sun) ran alone, in Class 21a Racing Cars 1601 to 2000 cc, Steve Holland in his Force TA had opposition from Nigel Pitt in his Dallara F305 on both days and won with times of 30.10 (Sat) and 29.05 (Sun) which were the FTDs.
The qualifiers for the Top 12 run-off each day were very similar with the only difference being the replacement of Jim Herbert by Dylan Ferrett between Saturday and Sunday. With the track wet there were three non-starters in Saturday’s run-off – Clive Skipper, Tim Pitfield and David Cuff. After the first 4 runners it was Paul Davies in his Radical which led with a 39.29 and this resisted the efforts of all but Steve Holland (37.16) and Ben Bonfield (38.56). Second fastest qualifier Mark Crookall fell to 8th in the run-off with 41.62 owing to his old wet tyres not having very much grip. Nigel Pitt (39.32) and Paul Crute (39.87) completed the top 5. Paul had an exciting day as a pheasant collided with his car at the top of the track bending a steering arm and damaging a front wing but it was all fixed for Sunday.
Steve Holland repeated his win in Sunday’s run-off with 29.74 and Mark Crookall on a dry track recovered to finish second on 30.73, ahead of Ben Bonfield on 30.90. This time Stephen Snell came up to 4th with 32.30 while Paul Davies added a 5th to Saturday’s 3rd with 32.40, just 3/100ths faster than David Cuff. This time it was Nigel Pitt (8th) and Paul Crute (11th) who fell down the order compared to Saturday’s positions. So Steve Holland heads into the June meeting with 20 points from Ben Bonfield on 17 and Paul Davies on 14.
Motor Bikes
The Auto Cycle Union Championship runners opened the running on both days and on the Sunday we also had a Top Ten run-off for them.
A wide variety of solo bikes from 249 cc to 1301 cc were joined by a Morgan F Type 3 wheeler in the Trike class and 3 varied sidecars.
In the 100-250 class Patrick Evans on his KTM won a 2 bike battle against David Barker on his Yamaha on both days with times of 37.70 (Sat.) and 37.52 (Sun.).
The most popular class was the 351-500 one and this was led on both days by Cameron Williams on his Aprilia (35.15, 34.88) with Guy Ursell (Husqvarna) second on Saturday and Pete Short (KTM), who did not run on Saturday, second on Sunday with Ursell in third.
In the 501-750 class Chris Keates won on Saturday on his KTM in 35.82 from Mark Williams on a Honda, but on Sunday Callum Short turned up on his KTM to take the class on 34.27 from Keates on 35.97.
The biggest engined solo bikes (751-1400) were led on both days by Paul Jeffery on his 890 cc KTM (34.63, 34.18) with David Peat on his 796 cc KTM second.
The Morgan F Type – eligible for the Trike class with its 2 front wheels and one driven rear only appeared on Saturday and recorded a best of 63.29 with Nancy Thomas and Chris McGallan.
The oldest of the 3 sidecars was the Foster BMW of brothers Mark and James Foster but they were well beaten by Mark’s brother Simon and partner Jayne on their F2 Honda engined CBR who also qualified for the top ten run off on Sunday. Their best times were 37.45 (Sat.) and 36.75 (Sun.). Completing the field were Kevin and Sara Dewell on their familiar green F1 Windle Kawasaki who finished second on both days with a best of 40.03.
The top ten run off on Sunday was dominated by KTMs with the first 4 finishing in the order Callum Short (637cc – 34.16), just ahead of Paul Jeffery (890 cc – 34.17), then Pete Short (470cc – 34.53) and David Peat (796 cc – 34.77). Best non-KTM was Cameron Williams on his Aprilia in 5th on 34.85, while the Fosters finished 9th on their sidecar on 36.60.